Current account deficit shrinks 73% in July

By

Web Desk

Wednesday Aug 21, 2019

Pakistan’s current account deficit (CAD) contracted by a massive 73 per cent in the first month of this fiscal year, the State Bank said on Tuesday.

The CAD shrank to $579 million in July (the first month of this fiscal year), as compared to $2.13 billion in the same period of last year. The whopping 72.81 percent reduction came on the back of a 10 percent jump in exports and a decline in imports, and followed the government’s $6 billion bailout agreement with the International Monetary Fund earlier this year.

According to the SBP data, exports climbed 10 percent to $2.233 billion in July, from $2.012 billion in the same period last year. Imports, meanwhile, dropped to $4.08 billion from $5.497 billion.

As a result, the balance of trade in goods narrowed to $1.847 billion, compared to a deficit of $3.485 billion. The balance of trade in services, on the other hand, went down 8.5 percent to $473 million.

Remittances from overseas Pakistanis stood at $2.03 billion in July, compared to $1.98 billion in the same month last year.

The government has set eyes on limiting the CAD at $6.5 billion for the ongoing fiscal year, as per the requirements of the IMF, compared to the $13.5 billion deficit that was witnessed in the previous fiscal year.